Pine Prairie still seeking first win of the season;

The Pine Prairie Panthers are still looking for that elusive win in 2019.
Last week, Pine Prairie fell to the Mamou Demons 35-7 to go to 0-7 on the year and 0-2 in district play. However, Pine Prairie head coach Yves Prince is still optimistic that his Panthers will find a way to get themselves in the win column before the season ends.
“It just seems that we cannot put a whole game together,” stated Prince. “We show flashes of being a good football team during the games, but we just cannot sustain any momentum that we get. Against Mamou, we gave them a good game in the first quarter and a half.”
“They executed the game plan up until that point, but, when we got behind, we just let up a little,” Prince continued. “We are going to have to learn how to overcome adversity and believe in ourselves the entire game.”
Offense has been a problem for the Panthers all season long. With the lack of a passing game, Pine Prairie has had to rely on its running game, which gives opponents a chance to load the box on the Panthers.
Against Mamou, Pine Prairie could only pick up 109 yards on the ground and went one for 12 in the passing game. It is something that Prince has tried to remedy all season long.
“Running the football starts up front,” said Prince. “Our guys on the offensive line have to do a better job of sustaining blocks and making sure their assignments are carried out. But, I keep going back to this, we are very young at every position on the field. It takes time and patience to get this young of a team believing in themselves and trusting their instincts.”
The Panthers will once again need an error free football game if they expect to get their first win of the year over the Iota Bulldogs.
Iota (6-1, 1-1) comes to Pine Prairie after escaping with a 13-12 win over Ville Platte this past Friday night. The Bulldogs have not played particularly well in the last couple of games, losing to Church Point two weeks ago.
Prince is hoping Iota overlooks his team and continues that trend.
“Teams are dangerous if you do not take them seriously,” commented Prince. “We have the talent to pick up the upset if Iota overlooks us. The biggest thing for us is to stay playing with the heart that I have seen over the past seven weeks.”